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After all the winds and rain that swept through earlier in the week (and which washed away poor Pippa's iris) a calm has descended on this part of the world.Wandering around this morning I've noticed that spring has been inching in under cover

Spring is here, although nobody seems to have told the weather department yet. This week's biting easterly wind felt more like standing at a Siberian bus stop than April in an English country garden.However, the evidence of spring is out

I think it is time for another deeply prejudiced personal rant about my least favourite plants. Spring is, if not exactly just around the corner, then definitely packed, dressed and on its way. With the spring comes the return to our gardens

I do love the garden in October - especially in the sunshine. In the early Spring it is all about hope and waiting: all that mulch and neatly tidied brown border. A month or so later and there is green stuff and bulbs all over the place. Then we

, covered in white flowers which, come the autumn, turn into deep red berries, or haws. They also make spectacular trees that reach about 5m in 10 years - although if left alone they can reach 18m. They're fantastically gnarly and twisted and every wild

Spot the odd one out from these four: 1) Quincy Jones (Music Producer who worked with Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra). 2) Thomas de Quincey (ferociously clever writer and drug addict). 3)Quincy ME (1970s television series starring Jack Klugman

around 10pm and by the next morning it had all gone. All well and good except that we have a bit of a British Rail problem - it was completely the wrong type of snow. Instead of being light, fluffy cotton-woolly snow this was wet and heavy. As a result

and it is one of my great pleasures. The dark green leaves go perfectly with the aged brick, in the spring it is covered with frothy white flowers and come the autumn the branches are laden with red berries. When the hard frosts come we then have a wonderful

. On Thursday I'm with the twinkling Chris Beardshaw, on Friday with earthy Monty Don and on Saturday and Sunday with gingery Joe Swift. If you're looking for somewhere to go this coming weekend (10-11 May) please come along and say 'hello'.I'm already looking

persica (Persian Ironwood), Viburnum davidii, Viburnum burkwoodii, Philadelphus and various others.The only sure way to keep the things out is to erect a proper rabbit fence - which should be made from 1m high wire netting with the bottom 15cm bent